By Maya Majueran, co-founder of the Sri Lanka Belt and Road Initiative (BRISL).
Compiler: Eren
Over the past decade, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has gradually moved from concept to action and from vision to reality, bringing tangible benefits to participating countries, including increased investment, job creation and improved livelihoods. Looking ahead to the next decade, China aims to work together to promote high-quality, sustainable and people-centred development of the Belt and Road Initiative.
On November 24, China released the Vision and Actions for Unswervingly Promoting the High-Quality Development of the Belt and Road Initiative – Prospects for the Belt and Road Initiative in the Next Decade. In addition to policy coordination, facility connectivity, unimpeded access, financial integration, and people-to-people bonds, the new document adds cooperation in new areas such as green, digital, innovation, and health.
Under the Belt and Road Initiative, China has established a number of international economic corridors, including the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor. This is China's only direct access to the Indian Ocean through Myanmar, which is crucial to China's security and is an important layout for China to alleviate the predicament in the Strait of Malacca.
The China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CPEC) begins in Yunnan, China, passes through Mandalay, Myanmar's second-largest city, and then travels south to Yangon and west to the Kyaukphyu Special Economic Zone in Rakhine State, costing billions of dollars and measuring 1,700 kilometers. The construction of the Kyaukphyu Special Economic Zone, Yangon New Town and the China-Myanmar Border Economic Cooperation Zone constitute the three pillars of the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor.
On November 20, when Chinese State Councilor Chen Yiqin met with Sri Lanka's Wickremesinghe in Colombo, China gave priority to extending the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor to Sri Lanka. Wickremesinghe said Sri Lanka and other BRI countries are ready to launch the second phase of the initiative, which is expected to make a greater economic contribution.
The China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (China-Myanmar Economic Corridor) is expected to connect the Hambantota port in Sri Lanka with China's Yunnan Province via Myanmar. Yunnan, located on the southwestern border, has long been regarded as an underdeveloped province, but economic growth has accelerated since the Belt and Road Initiative was proposed. In January 2020, during a visit to Yunnan, Chinese leaders pointed out that Yunnan should take the initiative to serve and integrate into major national development strategies, promote great development through great opening-up, and accelerate the pace of building international corridors for interconnection with neighboring countries.
As an important bridge between China and Southeast Asia and South Asia, Yunnan currently has more than 20 dry ports and 15 airports near the China-Laos, China-Vietnam and China-Myanmar borders. In addition, the Trans-Asian Railway network, one of the flagship transport development projects in Southeast Asia, also starts in Kunming, Yunnan Province. When completed, the network will connect eight Southeast Asian countries and facilitate their ties with China.
The extension of the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor to Sri Lanka represents a unique opportunity to help Sri Lanka build links with China and ASEAN. The maritime connectivity between Kyaukphyu Port and Hambantota Port will stimulate development and economic activity in Sri Lanka, Myanmar and China's Yunnan Province, and provide an alternative route for China to the Strait of Malacca.
Both Kyaukphyu and Hambantota are flagship projects under the Belt and Road Initiative, and China is already investing heavily in regional integration. Recently, the Sri Lankan cabinet approved the plan of China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) to invest $4.5 billion to build an oil refinery in the port of Hambantota.
Sri Lanka has been an important stop on the Maritime Silk Road since ancient times, and the country's unique geographical position in the Indian Ocean allows it to play a key role in the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor.
*: APD News, Asia Pacific).